[Buddha-l] buddha-l Digest, Vol 50, Issue 5 Reply Laura Harrington

[Robert Leverant]

Laura,

You won't find this in Buddhist literature.

You will find what you are seeking in the literature of psycholytic
psychotherapy, particularly the work of Hanscarl Leuener .

An autobiography which describes a harrowing journey of "curing" severe PTSD
flash-backs  this way is:   Ka-Tzetnik 135633, Shivitti, A Vision (Berkeley:
Gateway Books & Tapes, 1998).

FYI: this is a small text. Leuner figures in it. He ran a clinic for such
persons so afflicted.

Robert Leverant
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> 
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> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 21:04:55 -0000 (UTC)
> From: lharrington at wesleyan.edu
> Subject: [Buddha-l] monks, meditation and trauma
> To: buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> Message-ID:
> <56312.76.119.65.166.1238879095.squirrel at webmail.wesleyan.edu>
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> 
> I'm doing some research with a psychologist who works with Tibetan monks
>  suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the wake
> of being imprisoned and tortured. In particular, they're grappling with
> severe and invasive flash-backs (involuntary memories of their torture)
> that occur while they are meditating, and which effectively end their
> meditation  session. I'd like to know if there is any reference in
> Buddhist meditative literature that alludes to this kind of experience, and
> perhaps offers an explanation or an antidote.
> 
> Towards that end, I?ve re-read a range of Indian and Tibetan sources,
> searching for a commentarial tradition or genre of literature which might
> be fruitful to pursue. My sampling has included obvious Nikaya sources, A
> including Pali suttas and Buddhagosa?s Visuddhimagga;
> Mahayana commentaries within the lam rim and blo sbyong genres, focusing
> on works ranging from Atisa?s Lamp for the Path(byang chub gyi sgron ma)
> Tsong kha pa?s Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path (lam rim chen
> mo), and Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation (thar rgyan);
> Tantric commentaries focusing on everything from  the 6 Yogas of Naropa to
> the Kalacakra.
> 
> In addition, I?ve done a literature review of secondary sources on trauma,
> meditation and PTSD, with an emphasis on studies of Tibetan and Buddhist
> communities. (I am happy to share a bibliography with interested readers.)
> 
> So far, I haven?t found much to work with. The only reference to anything
> close to a flash-back are allusions to memories of past lives. Does
> anybody have any suggestions about where I should focus my research?
> 
> Thank you,
> Laura Harrington
> 
> 
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> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 04 Apr 2009 21:14:36 -0600
> From: Richard Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu>
> Subject: [Buddha-l]  Be good for Godsake
> To: buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> Message-ID: <1238901277.15716.6.camel at localhost>
> Content-Type: text/plain
> 
> Alberto confessed to having watched Bill Maher's Religulous. And then he
> observed:
> 
>> The relief will be only momentary because after you have finished
>> watching it you'll probably want to move to another planet even more
>> than before.
> 
> I haven't seen this particular Maher piece, but in general I find Maher
> very tedious. I'm probably becoming a prude in my old age, but I really
> find gratuitous swearing tiresome. In what I've seen, Maher can't get to
> the verb of a sentence without tossing in several pointless adverbs that
> he seems to think make him look very hip and cool. When seeking
> intelligent critiques of religion, I'll stick to Hume and Nietzsche.
> 
> Every night I look at the sky in the direction of my home planet and
> wonder when the ship is coming back to pick me up. Am I being punished
> for something I did or said there?